It's Not Ironic; It's Just Coincidental

We've had a lot of snow this winter. Seriously, a lot. Back in mid to late January I saw on the news that our snowfall total for the year was already 9 or 10 inches above average. When the city decides that there has been enough snow (usually >4 or 6 inches in a 24 hour period), they send out the snow plows. As anyone who has lived in an area with lots of snow can tell you, the plows don't care much where the snow goes as long as they push it off the road. A giant wall of snow at the end of your driveway? That's your problem. The road's clear now. As annoying as being plowed in (our out, as has happened to me at least twice this year) is, the bigger problem is that since we have no curbs, the snow also gets pushed up against where people's mailboxes are. As the snow piles higher and higher, and the plows push more and more snow in the general direction of the mailbox, ours could no longer take the strain and, as we discovered when some of the giant snow pile surrounding it melted, was only being held upright by the snow. It now lists to one side and back*, threatening to topple completely at any moment.

This of course, is also our problem and has resulted in multiple trips to Home Depot, first for the post kit, then a new "if we're doing this we might as well replace that too" mailbox, then for the mounting board, which is for some strange reason not included with either the post or mailbox. On one of these trips through the store, we came across this display.




At first, it simply added to frustration and anger on my part, but finally I realized that there isn't much that I can change about it, so I might as well laugh.

The sad part about this is that once we finally got all the pieces we need to replace it, it has started snowing again, so we are stuck having to wait.


*Do you have any idea how hard it was to resist a "back, and to the left" joke?

Spring Sprang Sprung

Yesterday was the first day of Spring. It was nice and sunny with the temperature in the 40's. The last of the snow was just about melted (except in those pesky shady spots and places where it was piled up from plowing, but those won't melt until May). Today...well, I'll just let the National Weather Service tell you:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND RAPIDS HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 AM EDT SATURDAY. SNOW WILL BEGIN LATE THIS MORNING AND BECOME HEAVY DURING THE AFTERNOON. 2 TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION CAN BE EXPECTED BY EVENING. THE SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVERNIGHT WITH AN ADDITIONAL 4 TO 7 INCHES OF SNOW EXPECTED. THIS WILL BRING TOTAL STORM ACCUMULATION OF 6 TO 12 INCHES BY DAYBREAK SATURDAY. A BRISK NORTHEAST WIND OF 15 TO 25 MPH WILL CAUSE SOME BLOWING SNOW WHICH COULD CONTRIBUTE TO VISIBILITIES FREQUENTLY BELOW A MILE.

Unfortunately, judging by the way it looks outside, they aren't lying.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to try to stop whining long enough to go look for job openings in Costa Rica.

A Weather Haiku, Complete with Onomatopoetic Expression of Disgust

the year's first real snow

wet disgusting slushy mess

'tis the season. Blech!

Another Update, Still No Power

Tonight while we were out, we saw a guy out in front of a local business holding a sign. I couldn't tell what it said at first, but as we passed I realized it said "We sell generators. 10% off, today only."

Tempting...

Stormy Weather Pt. 2

I just got our first update on power restoration from the electric company (didn't get to speak to Morgan Freeman though). They are currently estimating our power will be restored on August 25th, 2007 at 4:00. Ah yes, there's nothing like rapid service. I guess I should just be glad that they included 2007 in the date so I don't have to wonder if they'll get to me this year.

Friday AM update: They now claim power will be restored by August 26th, 2007 11:59 PM. Will someone do me a favor and tell them that I hate them.

Stormy Weather

A large line of strong thunderstorms came rolling off Lake Michigan this evening. Around 5:15, a tornado warning was issued for areas just to our southwest. The storms looked to be severe and headed in our direction rapidly. The only good thing was that they were moving fast enough that they wouldn't stay for very long.

They didn't. In fact, we only had around 5 to 10 minutes of a strong storm, but it was enoughto knock limbs down around the neighborhood and cause a power outage (I'm posting from my phone again). Now, if you will excuse me, I have a long evening of sitting in the dark planned.

They See Me Mowin' My Front Lawn, I Know They're All Thinkin' I'm So White & Nerdy

It's Spring and while the temperature is doing its up and down dance, the snow is now long gone, and plants have awakened from their long winter's nap. As the first few blades of grass began poking through the snow a month and a half or so ago, my thoughts immediately turned to "Ugh. I'm going to have to mow that soon." Fortunately, the temperature went back to cold for a while, so that the grass had not really started growing until recently (of course, when it finally got mowed this weekend, it was desperately in need of it*).

However, thinking of mowing the lawn brings me back to a subject I was wondering about last fall. As I mowed and listened to my MP3 player, I pondered (because apparently those two activities are not enough to keep my mind from wandering) how other people mow their lawns. Are they horizontal row people, vertical row people, or do they go for the concentric circle (square/rectangle/trapezoid) approach?

The different styles have their own distinct advantages. Mowing in rows can give the appearance that you want, with row after row of freshly cut grass, the only visible pattern a faint waviness as your eyes pass over each row. The concentric pattern does not always turn out as well upon completion, but does hold other advantages. It is considerably more forgiving of obstacles and slopes which can be a problem if one simply goes back and forth across the lawn. It also allows for easier mowing along edges and does not require turning the mower on a dime. In addition, it also is more rewarding for the person doing the mowing because for each lap that is performed, the remaining laps decrease in size until the final trip around the lawn is nothing more than a mere patch which must be mowed.

What do I do? I don't have a defined answer. I use both methods, which is what started me wondering about this in the first place. But that's not the real question. The important question here is what about you? What do you do?

*Thoughts inspired by the actual mowing later.

Mother Nature Has Some Issues With Mood Swings

It's currently 70 degrees outside. It's going to snow tomorrow. I'll give you one guess what's in our weather forecast for this evening.

I think I'd better make sure to put the car in the garage tonight.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb, With An Indentity Crisis In-Between

Remember how I told you that it was 70 degrees on Tuesday afternoon? It was so gorgeous outside. Unfortunately, this is what greeted me this morning, less than 48 hours later, when I went to let the dogs out.



On a related note, despite the fact that we had several 50-60 degree days and one 70+ day, I noticed that the lake near where Melissa works is still completely covered in ice. I'm not sure how thick or how strong the ice is anymore, but it still goes all the way across.

More Weather Complaints

As I was getting ready just a couple minutes ago, the people on the radio told me that it was -6 degrees. That's not even the wind chill, just the temperature. They then went through a list of weather related closings for the day. The list took about five minutes to read. It would have been much faster if they had simply said, "Everything is closed. Oh wait, except for that place you work, Craig."

This should be fun. I plan to be in a bad mood all day.

This Weather Stinks

We're downgraded all the way to a Winter Weather Advisory now after spending all weekend under Winter Weather and Blizzard Warnings. Unfortunately, since Chewie thinks it would be a good idea to try to leave the yard and run free, I get to go outside with the dogs when they need to go out. Since we have a wireless web cam aimed into the backyard (for watching the boys if we aren't out there with them), Melissa decided to record me. At the beginning of the video, you can see me putting away my phone after she was telling me to come wave to the camera. Note that I am wearing jeans, my hooded NMSU sweatshirt with the hood up over my University of Illinois knit cap (repping both alma maters), a heavy wool coat buttoned all the way up to my face, gloves and snow boots. The only things exposed in any way are my eyes and part of my nose, but I was still freezing.




So what do you do when there's a blizzard warning, everything is closed and the news outlets are reporting that if you do venture out and slide off the road that police will take hours to get to you because they are so busy helping everyone else? I don't know what you do, but as for me, I scrounge the cabinets and see what I can make with ingredients we have in the house. That's how we ended up with a tray of super rich brownies covered in sour cherry preserves.